Atlanta studio opens as filming in Georgia
booms
July 1, 2010
Source: EUE Screen Gems
After beefing up
its film incentive program in 2008, Georgia has emerged among
the top five states in the country for film production, attracting
such movies as the Academy Award-winning "The Blind Side,"
the Woody Harrelson horror flick "Zombieland" and
the fifth installment of Universal's "Fast & Furious"
franchise.
The latest sign of the state's expanding
film business: a sprawling 30-acre studio complex that has
opened in the former Lakewood Fairgrounds site near downtown
Atlanta.
The fairgrounds, owned by the city of Atlanta and until recently
used as a venue for a flea market, are a local landmark and
already a popular filming site, home for such movies as Burt
Reynolds' 1977 trucker film "Smokey and the Bandit."
EUE/Screen Gems, a New York City company
that also operates studios in Manhattan and Wilmington, N.C.,
said last week that it would invest $6 million to convert
the fairgrounds and its Spanish colonial-style exhibition
halls into Georgia's biggest studio. Although it was formerly
owned by Columbia Pictures, the company is not related to
the Screen Gems production label now owned by Sony Pictures.
Chief operating officer and co-owner of
EUE/Screen Gems, Chris Cooney says the New York City, Wilmington
and Atlanta facilities can together provide coastal, rural
and urban settings, as well as the size and infrastructure
needed to handle intense special effects for film, commercial
and games.
He adds that Atlanta offers a 30 percent tax credit to qualified
production and post production expenditures. The credit is
available not only to traditional motion picture projects
such as feature films, television series, commercials and
music videos, but also innovative new industries such as game
development and animation.
Bill Thompson, deputy commissioner of the Georgia Film, Music
and Digital Entertainment Office says the state is committed
to growing its production business. “EUE/Screen Gems
locating here helps us achieve that goal. The new facility
will create more jobs for Georgians and increase our competitiveness
as a state for film and television productions,” says
Thompson.
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